Victorian Twilight Times (Twilight Fanfic)

Prologue

In 1915, Edward Anthony Masen lost his little sister Carlotta Macy Masen. She had been a playful, bouncing girl who idolized Edward; he practically raised her from the moment she was delivered in the Masen living room. Edward ran around the house—much to both Edward Sr. and Elizabeth's dismay he still ran inside at the age of fourteen.
  From the moment she was born, Carlotta bounced; bounced and climbed. And jumped. She jumped off the furniture into Edward's awaiting arms with such blind trust in and love for Edward. But this one evening, he hadn't been ready for her post-bedtime antics and he hadn't run fast enough to catch her in time. She died on impact, but he blamed himself. With both parents out at a party, Edward scooped Carlotta up and sprinted towards the hospital.

This was when Edward Anthony Masen first met the new doctor in town—Doctor Carlisle Cullen. It was also the first time he met her... the young Miss Isabella Swan. Isabella was the cute daughter of Dr Cullen's assistant, Mrs Renée Swan. But, in this moment, to Edward, she looked for all-the-world an older incarnation of his now dead sister—the sister he murdered, as far as he was concerned. Isabella was eleven years old, had a sweet heart-shaped face, and chocolate brown eyes... those eyes were his torture and his only solace.
And so, Edward allowed the innocent Miss Isabella Swan to comfort him. He cried in her arms and sought her confidence in a corner of Dr Cullen's examination room. It was ungentlemanly behaviour, he was sure, for his mature fourteen-year-old self to seek solace in this eleven-year-old little girl, but he couldn't resist her innocent empathy and comfort. He'd been his mother's support for so long he failed to remember when it began. Edward looked into Isabella's non-judgmental chocolate eyes and pleaded for her forgiveness and he begged for her to assure him he truly could be absolved of wrongdoing.

To Isabella, it was such an obvious answer. Yes, she forgave him and yes he could be absolved—because if she was Carlotta, and yes she'd seen Carlotta and Edward's antics from afar, she would forgive and absolve him in a heartbeat. Edward was such a loving big brother—one she wanted—and gifted young musician; she had heard his piano playing at all odd hours and thought he had been born to grace this earth with his goodness and love, his beauty and strength, his abundance of energy that never seemed depleted. Isabella may have had a tiny crush on the Masen boy currently weeping in her arms. Recently, he had started being referred to as a young man, but all little Isabella could see in young Edward was a very scared boy not much older than herself. And her heart bled for him and the pain he was in.

From that evening onwards, Edward and Isabella became close acquaintances. When he needed to escape his superstitious mother's overwhelming the house in her desperation to contact Carlotta, he headed straight for the hospital and Dr Cullen's office. If Isabella wasn't in there but Dr Cullen was, he found himself—frequently—inviting himself over to the Swan residence. They lived decently in a smaller house in the street behind his own. The young gentleman in Edward feared Isabella's father's thoughts of his talent for unannounced, rather unbecoming arrivals at their front door only to whisk Isabella away to talk and play in the grounds of the small Masen estate that was too ghostly without Isabella's vibrant yet quiet presence. But Officer Charles Swan was unfazed by young Edward Masen's kinship with his only baby, Isabella. Bells, as Charles nicknamed Isabella for her bell-like laugh, could not go wrong in the world with Edward Masen Junior bathing her in attention and education in the world of literature and music. If Officer Swan was fated to only have one child, much like the Masens, he was delighted young Edward paid such close attention to Isabella. As her friend, young Edward Masen opened doors for Isabella she may never have dared dream nearing without his companionship.

For two years, Isabella Marie Swan and young Edward Anthony Masen grew to be each other's main confidant. Talk began about town on Isabella's thirteenth birthday of a potential betrothal between them; young Miss Isabella Swan had not been seen near other boys, and similarly, young Master Edward Masen had not been seen, nor had others talked of him, lavishing affections of any description on a girl who was not the young Miss Isabella Swan. Many failed to see what innocently drew the two children together—and truly, they were little more than children when together. Edward Masen Sr began to see Isabella as a gold digger, in a sense, a social climber. Edward Anthony did not appreciate his father's scheming separation of Edward and Isabella—Edward Anthony's mother Elizabeth was poisonous enough with her passion for Edward Anthony's pursuit of music over servitude to his country; the doe-eyed Isabella was not going to sway his choice by saying 'please play the piano professionally, Edward—for me'. Because Edward Masen Sr knew—he'd seen it too many times to count, this past three months, especially—that Edward Anthony was melted butter in young Isabella's hands; one word, one look and the only Masen heir was going insane to please the little lady named Isabella Marie Swan. Isabella's uncanny resemblance to Carlotta did not help Edward Masen Sr much, it only made him more suspicious of the girl... particularly given that Elizabeth loved Isabella as if she were the daughter that should have been between Edward and Carlotta.
Then, at the same time as the talk of war swept the country, so did the Spanish Influenza. After a month forced apart, Isabella and Edward met once more in tragic circumstances. Isabella was learning, under Dr Cullen's guidance, how to be an assistant or lay nurse should she venture into the war hospitals—the idea of Isabella in such life-threatening situations terrified Edward. It was two weeks after Edward Masen Sr had been buried when Isabella was forced to break Edward's heart—she was leaving for Washington State within the week; her father had been moved by the Armed Forces and Dr Cullen had found both herself and her mother suitable positions in the local hospital. Isabella promised to write for as long as Edward promised to stay alive—whatever staying alive meant when surrounded by the Spanish Influenza and war.

Though consumed with multiple forms of grief, Elizabeth Masen understood what Edward's heart did in the young and beautiful Isabella's presence, thus she incessantly nagged her son to hand Isabella Elizabeth's favourite diamond necklace—Elizabeth had little use of it anymore and she had every confidence it belonged around Isabella's neck now and into the unforeseeable future.
Elizabeth was struck down with the Spanish Influenza before young Edward ever admitted if he gifted the necklace to Isabella before her departure. She was in the fiery pits of Hell that was the sickness culling women, men, and children alike across the country. But that didn't stop her from turning to the golden-eyed and very-pale-skinned Dr Cullen when young Edward, seventeen years of age and itching to protect Isabella from afar by conscripting as soon as possible, joined her suffering. Elizabeth knew there to be something about Dr Cullen which allowed him to save Edward when no one else could. Dr Cullen could save Edward and return him to Isabella, Elizabeth was certain. And she would be eternally damned if she did not spend her last breaths pleading for her son's life to be saved—he deserved eternal happiness with Isabella that only Dr Cullen could bring about.